A couple of months ago I got me a new v300 Motorola cell phone. It was a nice little gadget, which provided sufficient, though limited, web browsing functionality, as well as excellent voice quality.

I signed up for the $10, minimal data package and life seemed to be perfect.

But as usual, mysterious are the ways of destiny.

Last week a colleague of mine was heading to Africa. Wishing to make sure he would be able to keep in touch with the office, we sent our admin to the nearest Rogers store.

She returned with a BlackBerry 7290 which the guy seemed to dislike from the very first moment.

That was when it all started.

I don?t know what was it that had gotten into me, but noticing his long face, I did the dumbest thing I?ve ever done, and offered him to swap phones. I guess I couldn?t resist the ?e-mail, phone, SMS, organizer, web and corporate data applications in a single handheld? appeal.

All excited, I called the Rogers call center and joyfully broke the news to them of the new avenue in life I was pursuing.

The transaction was smooth and swift, and even the new price plan (40$ a month for 1 megabyte) was not something that could stand between my and the promised data-land.

All energized I started my life as a proud blackberry owner by launching the web browser, and keyed in the ?Outlook web Access? address for our exchange server.

The status bar was climbing cheerfully, and after a couple of seconds, I got the ?call your ISP? message.

I was thinking, ?OK, the Rogers folks are nice people. Let?s give them a call.?

?Hmm, is it an HTTPS address you?re trying to access? Try the WAP browser,? was the support woman?s advice.

OK, I know the WAP browser usually works with WAP application, but the Rogers woman sounded so confident.

I launched the WAP browser, and true, this time the friendly ?call your ISP? advice did not appear. Instead I got the unencouraging ?end of page? message.

?Very interesting?, I think to myself, while re-dialing the Rogers call center.

?You are right,? said the male voice on the other end of the line. ?The WAP browser works only with the WAP application. Your problem is that the standard browser does not yet support the HTTPS protocol?.